Jeff Misenti
In what felt like a miracle, Filip Hronek scored with 1:01 left in regulation, and Jake DeBrusk buried the only goal of the shootout. Considering the Canucks trailed 3-1 in the third, it’s quite a surprise to report that Vancouver beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 at Rogers Arena on Thursday night.
Hronek tied it by using Drew O’Connor as a screen from the right circle, then Nikita Tolopilo shut the door in the shootout against Ryan O’Reilly, Filip Forsberg, and Steven Stamkos.
Marco Rossi had a goal and two assists, Brock Boeser added a goal and an assist, and the win ended the Canucks’ five-game home losing streak.
A game the Canucks nearly wasted
I’ve seen plenty of Canucks games where a decent start fades the moment something goes wrong. This one nearly followed that script. The team carried the play early, Juuse Saros kept Nashville alive, and for a while it felt like another night where the better stretches wouldn’t matter much by the end.
At 8:40 of the first period, Boeser opened the scoring on a double deflection after Hronek fired from the point, and Rossi got a touch in the slot.
Saros then turned aside breakaways from Drew O’Connor and Linus Karlsson, plus another Boeser look off a 3-on-2, and that sequence kept the Predators close when they easily could have been buried.
Then the game flipped. Tyson Jost scored late in the first and again at 5:20 of the second, both times cashing in around the net, and Matthew Wood made it 3-1 at 14:06 when his sharp-angle try went in off Liam Ohgren’s skate.
Reuters reported that Wood was playing near his hometown in British Columbia, in front of family and friends, which only added to Nashville’s second-period surge.
What changed in the third?
Instead of the usual approach of losing, with just 4:05 left in regulation, the Canucks pulled one back through Marco Rossi’s rebound finish. This made it 3-2.
In NHL.com’s coverage, Adam Foote reportedly said the Canucks believed they had played a strong game and stayed in it, rather than letting the score get to them. An interesting insight on what may have gone wrong in previous games.
Hronek’s game tying shot came with only 61 seconds left. He ripped it off the post and through traffic. Considering the team has spent much of the season watching late chases fade away, this instead lifted the roof at the Rogers Arena.
Tolopilo finished with 16 saves through regulation and overtime.
Two interesting facts stood out at the end of the game:
- The Canucks had lost nine of their previous 10 NHL games before this one
- It was only the fifth time in franchise history that they had won after trailing by multiple goals in the final five minutes of regulation.
This comeback doesn’t change what has been a bad season, but it was a reminder that this group still has some fight.
